Driving challenge set

So I've got a problem that most of my friends/family have. We drive fast. Not too fast to put anyone in immediate danger. Just fast enough to rack up a decent amount of speeding fines.

I've often been told by passengers that I drive fast and it got me to thinking. The rules of the road, like the rules of airlines are there for a reason. To ensure safety and order is upheld in their respective areas. Amongst other things of course.

Everyone complains about the taxi drivers getting away with murder when most of us go over the speed limit. Sure a white lie is still a lie? A small sin is still a sin? etc etc.

So there are not any other laws which I'm aware of breaking besides going over the speed limit. This generally happens at roads where I think and therefore decide that the particular speed limit assigned is WAAAY to low and therefore go above it. I also have full knowledge of where the fixed speed cameras are and where coppers normally try and "trap" you.

So I embarked on a 'challenge'. Stay within the speed limit at all times. It's HAAARD. On highways sticking to the 120 km/h was the easiest to adjust to. But areas where I find it extremely difficult are areas like the off ramp from the N1 (heading towards town) getting onto the M5 heading away from town. This single lane of about 200m stretch of road is a 60 km/h zone. It's tough. I went into the yellow lane cause 2 cars started bunching behind me. They did not overtake for some reason. Another really difficult road to maintain the speed limit is Vanguard Drive. It must be the most difficult. At times, it's a 3 lane road in one direction. It's nonsensical actually. Assuming a 10 km/h offset between each of the lanes that would mean that the fast lane max speed is 60 km/h, the middle lane is 50 km/h and far left lane is 40 km/h! Crazy. Insane. The locals agree with me. No, I didn't start interviewing people. You only need to look at the cars all flying by me. Driving 60 km/h in the far left lane, everyone was driving faster, including metro police, traffic officers and the like. Driving at the max allowed speed, I did not overtake anyone.

I am only a few days into this challenge and I have 'cheated' a few times but I think I'm getting a lot better at it. I find myself now having to leave a little earlier for appointments which is a draw back. One added benefit is that I won't be having any more speeding fines waiting for me in my mailbox.

I'll keep posting progress on this challenge.

Peace out.

Update 20 Dec: so its been nearly two months of doing the driving challenge. It has been a success in the sense that it has brought the whole matter front of mind. There are periods when im good and periods when im bad. When i obey the speed limit even on vanguards dreaded 60 zone. But there are times when De Waal drives twists and turns get the better of me. My goal now is just for consistency. Pray for me. This driving challenge has also spilled into other areas of my life where the moral grey areas have now become more black and white. Till 2013!!

Blogging: attempt no 4...

Once again this is an attempt to be a regular blogger. I started first in 2007, then again in 2008. Left it till posting a few times in 2011 and now again, at 2:30am on 22 October 2012, I attempt to be a regular blogger once again.

What's new in my life... Running.
A buddies gf who is also a buddy (sup Veena) invited me to join them on a 10km trail run. Trail running is something i've been eyeing since the beginning of the year so I immediately said YES!! Also, I've been playing Monday night 5 a side cage football and found in the last 10 mins of the 1 hour game my legs always gave in. So this was to boost my leg endurance as well.

The 10km went really well and i'm pretty much hooked now. After that race it took me about 4 days for my legs, back and shoulders to recover (eina!). I've been training for the next trail run which is a 7 km run in klapmuts called Dirtopia. I've bought trail gear as well now (takkies mainly) so i'm amped for the next one. The cool thing about a trail race is you get the physical exertion of normal running and the splendour of the scenery as you would when hiking.

I've got a cool app which tracks my km's, time and calories burned and you can share with friends via fb and twitter. I've ordered a heart rate monitor as well which should be arriving within the next month as it's not avail in SA. One thing i've learned is that if you striving to achieve something (in my case fitness) then you need to measure the crap out of it. Measure something, anything!! That routine tracking can serve as pure motivation for continuing.

So ultimately short term goal is to enter the two oceans marathon. The 52 km is first price but i'd be happy if i do the 21 km as well (second prize). I'll also be looking forward to see how my fitness fares on the footy field.

Hopefully you'll hear from me real soon again!

Sinfonia

4 days and 4 nights upon the MSC Sinfonia was the perfect way to relax and have a fun filled holiday with family and friends.

We left home for Durban on the 9th Jan where we stayed at the Garden Court Hotel on the beach front so as not to rush to get to the ship on the day of the cruise due to possible flight delays etc. I think this was a good idea for future travels of the same kind. Everyone was nice and relaxed going to the harbour the next morning.

Some of the group had their first 'bunny chow' treat. I have had it before in CT but first time in Durban. Had one for lunch and Dinner.

The morning of the 10th we checked out of the hotel and had a shuttle pick us up and transport us to the harbour where the cruise liner was docked.

It was quite a wait, about 2 hours in total, to board the ship. No fault of the cruise liner itself as we were later told. It is the insufficient services of the port itself that resulted in the huge delay. Not the best way to start the holiday but none the less we stayed in positive spirit.
Once aboard the Sinfonia we had to load cash onto our 'cruise card'. They have a cashless system on board the Sinfonia so all purchases are made using this card. Each of us loaded about R2k on our cards which was about enough. We had the option to load more later on if need be.

We then went on to our rooms and were surprised at how small they were. We selected the cabin for four people and it was really big enough for only two people. It was cramped with a queen size bed and two bunks above the bed for two people on each bunk. Cupboards were relatively small as well and the bathroom takes quite getting used to.
The weirdest thing was always when showering, you had to balance as the boat was moving as well.

So with the resolve that we were not gonna spend much time in the cabin itself we left to check out the facilities on the boat itself.
We spent the first hours on board on deck 11 which is the open air (top deck :)) deck. As well as deck 12. There was a live band jamming to summer tunes and people were already swimming in the pools. I expected the pools to be much larger than they were though. There were also two jacuzzies. People were all in a festive mood, many first time cruise liner travelers like us.

Each night has a theme night with regards to dress code. The first night was a formal gala theme. So we all unpacked our suitcases (well only me actually in my cabin) and we put on our finest. You are not allowed to use irons in the cabin for your clothes due to the fire risk it poses (:0). So most of the guests were dressed smartly in crinkle cut suits. At least it didn't come out on the photographs...

Before we went our first dinner sitting which was at 2145, we were first treated to some entertainment at the theater. There we also took pictures with the captain himself. The theater performances was awesome, professional and entertaining and AWESOME. What made them even better was that they were 30 mins in duration. Thereafter we'd go to our dinner sitting or dinner SIT-IN shall I say rather. Three course meals (or four if you like), all the meals were excellent. The service from our dedicated table waiter Kumar was excellent. You never had to wait more than 10 minutes for your food. If you are allergic to nuts like me then you have to be particularly wary of what you eat and I purposefully asked him everytime i ordered something whether it had nuts or not. The dinners were all basically the same and with the final night came the sad realisation that it was all coming to an end.

The theater performances were also similarly the same in satisfaction. The main difference that at the theater, seats were not reserved for you, it was first come first served. Which was fine the first couple of days. As the popularity of the shows increased though, we had to get to the theater so much earlier to get a seat. Many people would come an hour or two early and 'book seats' for their friends and family who would only arrive 10 minutes before the time. This got out of hand in the final show.


We arrive at Maputo the second days morning at the harbour where we disembarked. We spent the day there on a tour of the city and experiencing the city and museums. I think in hindsight most of this we could've done just by reading up on it but sometimes if its your first time to a place you need to experience it for yourself. It was interesting though the people, the history. I had the misfortune of having my sunglasses stolen from my table while at a restaurant in Maputo. We suspected the staff but had no proof and they didn't seem like they cared to even look. God was good to me, and even though I had given up on them, the restaurant phoned the tour guide that they 'found' my sunglasses. Whether it was dishonesty or a genuine mistake, i don't really care any more. My assumed version of events will always be that.


On the second night the waters were at its worst. Apparently according to staff, never in the two years of it running these waters had it encountered such bad ship movement. People were running to bathrooms to throw up, you could visually see on faces that all was not well.
Many like me however did not feel the roughness of the seas and were perfectly fine. Except for maybe walking from point A to point B. The cruise director pointed out that one thing that always works for him is that when walking like a drunken man when the seas are rough, he normally gets considerably drunk, and viola! he somehow transforms and can walk on a straight line during the worst of seas.

We then arrived just off the coast of Inhambane where we had to get onto rubber ducks which then took us to the shore. That was an amazing sight as we left the massive ship the Sinfonia, and headed towards the beautiful coast of Inhambane, the Barra Lodge resort to be exact.
Again we went on a tour guided trip around the place but this one was not a good one. The tour guide not as well educated as the previous tour guide we had for Maputo. He also was working double shifts for some reason so was clearly tired. Also, and i guess more importantly, Inhambane has nothing interesting about it. We would have done better just to stay on the coast and enjoy the warm beach water and soft sands. The local market we went to was dirty and boring, unlike other local markets i've been to at home, in Tanzania, Zanzibar and even Maputo.
We did return to the coast however on return from our tour where we swam. Even though it was raining, the weather was great and the water was warm. Perfect for swimming. After cracking open some coconuts to drink their juice we then climbed on the next rubber duck and headed back to the mother ship.